Brookshires Grocery sells 120 pharmacies to Walgreens, including Arkansas operations

by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

Brookshire Grocery Co. (BGC) announced an agreement with Walgreens for the publicly-traded pharmacy chain to acquire 120 Brookshire pharmacies in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. Grocery store operations are not part of the transaction.

Financial terms of the Brookshire-Walgreens deal were not disclosed.

Walgreens will receive pharmacy customer prescription files and related pharmacy inventory. The vast majority of Brookshire locations are being converted to Walgreens pharmacies within existing grocery stores.

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/07/brookshires-grocery-sells-120-pharmacies-to-walgreens-including-arkansas-operations/

AG Rutledge on Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Opioid Lawsuit

by Roby Brock

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge says her new lawsuit against Walgreens is part of a continuing mission of accountability for the opioid crisis, and she says her experience as the state’s top legal officer makes her more qualified to be the next governor of Arkansas.

In a mid-week Talk Business & Politics interview, Rutledge claimed Walgreens should have done more to curtail the prescription of opioids. By not doing so, the national pharmacy chain has contributed to the black market for the extremely addictive drugs.

Walgreens has denied the allegations and said it plans to “vigorously defend” itself in the lawsuit.

https://talkbusiness.net/2021/03/ag-rutledge-on-sarah-huckabee-sanders-opioid-lawsuit/

Attorney General Rutledge Sues Walgreens, Says Company Helped Fuel Opioid Epidemic

By STEVE BRAWNER / TALK BUSINESS & POLITICS

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed suit Monday against Walgreens under the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act, saying the drug retailer failed to report and prevent suspicious opioid purchases as it was required to do under the law.

The complaint says the drug retailer failed to institute controls to prevent the diversion of drugs into the black market. Walgreens filled more than 142,090,680 dosage units of oxycodone and hydrocodone in Arkansas from 2006 to 2014. Nine of the company’s pharmacies were among the top 20 recipients of prescription opioids in the state.

“Walgreens helped fuel the opioid crisis by selling, distributing and dispensing far greater quantities of prescription opioids than [were] necessary for legitimate medical use,” Rutledge said in her press conference.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/attorney-general-rutledge-sues-walgreens-says-company-helped-fuel-opioid-epidemic

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge at a press conference on March 26, 2018 making a different opiod-related announcement.

CREDIT MICHAEL HIBBLEN / KUAR NEWS